Alice Hlidkova is an international freelance journalist currently based in Brooklyn, NYC. Her work appears regularly in the international press, for publications including The Christian Science Monitor, Ragmag and Beyond. She has also been published in The New Scientist, Doha Centre for Media Freedom, and Arab Media & Society. She speaks and writes in English, Czech and Spanish.

As a resident of New York for twenty years, I am concerned about hydrofracking. The New York Times has recently reported that the Department of Environmental Conservation is planning to approve the natural gas extraction drilling method in the state, though no decision has been made. Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat in his second year...

On a narrow coastal plain, between the foothills of Brazilian Highlands and the Atlantic Ocean, peaks the dramatic setting of Rio de Janiero. Often called Cidade Maravilhosa, the marvelous city, for its verdant hills and crescent shaped beaches has long been the darling of early Portuguese settlers. Descriptions of its beauty are by no means...

Stanley Nelson leans over a small folding table inside New York City’s Grolier Club, America’s oldest and largest society for bibliophiles. Wrapped in an apron, the retired graphic arts specialist from the National Museum of American History lays out candles, file tools, and punches. He folds his fingers around a three-dimensional letter form and strikes...

It all began in the Champagne province of France, where a pale, pinkish still evolved into a sparkling, bubbly drink of celebration. “When wine was fizzy, people liked it,” says wine and spirits expert, Becky Sue Epstein, of the Frenchmen who first acquired a taste for the beverage in spring. Grapes used for champagne were...

Women find themselves in all sorts of trappings: the silky, smooth comfort of an evening dress; the perfectly board-ironed appeal of a hairdo; and the sensual application of colour to pouting lips. Lately, the most culturally relevant part of a woman’s wardrobe is undoubtedly the stiletto, and it has made its way into bridal gear....

Tufts of paper erode under rows of champagne glasses, yellowing the cloth that has been pinned under wooden table edges with Victorian sterling silver clasps. The glasses tremble slightly as engines throttle on cresting tides. The bay is choked with yachts, each displaying a nimbus of celebrity. From the decks comes a racket of Italian...

Last year in June, the American media was flooded with political commentary of the Supreme Court upholding a federal law that makes it illegal to give “material support” to foreign terrorist organizations. As the nation debated free speech verses national security, two Americans on their way to Somalia with intentions to join the Islamic extremist...

A school of dolphins circle a strange beast as it cuts through multiple layers of blue. Sinking deeper into the Gulf of Mexico, sharks begin to gather and follow curiously in its wake. The vessel continues its descent through bands of turquoise and grayish blue, a twilight zone some eight hundred feet deep. The sharks...

Yellow mini buses zoom along highways bending around residential slabs of concrete. They are haunting relics of the Soviet regime, the fabric of their totalitarianism still woven into the Ukrainian landscape. The monstrous Brezhnev-era leftovers disappear in downtown Kiev, but are replaced by the grim hospitality of the former Soviet Union. Fortunately, young women add...

Justina Lasley helps her clients understand the meaning of their dreams. The author and dream consultant believes dreams are storybooks written by the unconscious mind, and by interpreting them, she can help her clients make the necessary choices that will ultimately lead them to live a more spiritual or fulfilling life. She uses the technique...

Twenty miles off the coast of Louisiana’s Venice Marina, large fish swim around the gigantic legs of oil rigs. Barnacles, coral, and seaweed embrace the hefty concrete and steel that stretches close to three thousand feet along the Gulf of Mexico’s seabed. Dozens of fish and mammals nest in between the legs of the oil...

New York Times veteran foreign correspondents are cooking up a revolutionary news organisation for aspiring investigative journalists, enabling them to stir through the ingredients of corruption to serve serious stories. Launched on November 1st 2011, 100Reporters is a multinational network of professional reporters and editors dedicated to tackle corruption and issues of government accountability around...